The plans that President Barack Obama introduced in his State of the Union speech are unlikely to gain traction in the GOP-led Congress, but his use of the bully pulpit set policy markers that presidential candidates in both parties must now grapple with, according to an analysis by NBC News. In Obama's first six years in office, Republicans and some centrist Democrats have suggested that his policies were ineffective. But now with rising job growth and the federal deficit dropping, Republicans may no longer be able to dismiss all his ideas aimed at the middle class as emanating from a job-killing administration. Their challenge will be to offer compelling alternative ideas that don't cost too much money or increase the size of government as many conservatives expect. At the same time progressives in the Democratic Party will be challenging possible candidate Hillary Clinton to embrace Obama's ideas or go further.
